[JURIST] Following up a story reported this morning in JURIST's Paper Chase, states have already begun responding to the US Supreme Court's decision [JURIST report] to grant Congress the power to criminalize the growth and use of marijuana for personal medical reasons. In Oregon, officials have stopped issuing medical marijuana
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[JURIST] A jury in the US District Court of Central California [official website] found Monday that computer giant Microsoft [official website], infringed on a 1994 patent [text] owned by Guatamalan inventor Carlos Amado, and ordered the company to pay $9.9 in damages. The jury found that Microsoft added an application
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[JURIST] Lea Fastow, wife of former Enron [JURIST news archive] chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, was released from prison Monday after serving a one year sentence. Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at the Texas corporation, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last June to filing a false federal tax return related to
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[JURIST] In some of his most pointed remarks since becoming pontiff in April, Pope Benedict XVI [official website] spoke out against same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive], artificial birth control and divorce Monday while speaking to a group at Rome's St. John's Cathedral. The Pope called marriage between persons of the
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[JURIST] Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House of Representatives [official website] Thomas Finneran [official website] was indicted Monday on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying about his role in a redistricting plan [Common Cause backgrounder on redistricting in Massachusetts]. Finneran, considered for many years the most influential
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[JURIST] Lawyers for former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive] said Monday he is unwilling to reach a plea bargain with prosecutors and is prepared for a retrial if necessary. Scrushy denies wrongdoing in the $2.7 billion accounting fraud case in which prosecutors have charged him with wire and
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[JURIST] Taiwan's largely ceremonial National Assembly [official website] will conduct its final business Tuesday as it votes on proposed amendments to the island-nation's constitution [text]. The passage of the amendments is virtually guaranteed, as the two largest political parties in Taiwan are both in favor of them and both have
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[JURIST] The Nepal Bar Association [profession website] has called for the immediate dissolution of the royal government and new parliamentary elections after approving a resolution Sunday that characterized the 1 February declaration of a state of emergency [JURIST report] by King Gyanendra [official profile] as an 'extreme violation' of the
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[JURIST] The South Korean Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs [government website] announced Monday a plan to enact a law that would allow families of South Koreans kidnapped by the North Korean government in the 1960s and '70s to recover against South Korea for abuses that occurred as a
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[JURIST] A prosecutor in the trial of former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian [advocacy website] said in his opening remarks Monday that Al-Arian was at one time the most powerful man in an organization responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people in Israel, the West Bank,
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[JURIST] Voters in Chad went to the polls Monday to decide whether the current limitation of two terms on the country's president should be removed from Chad's constitution [text in French]. The referendum is being held in response to a bill passed by the Chad Parliament that will remove all
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[JURIST] A trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] ruled Monday that former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile] would be granted provisional release pending his war crimes trial at The Hague, but immediately stayed the order for 24 hours to allow filing
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[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan Prosecutor General Azimbek Beknazarov announced Monday that he had issued an international arrest warrant for former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev [official profile], believed to be hiding in Moscow, Russia after fleeing there following the April ouster of the Krygyz government after popular protests [JURIST report] after a
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[JURIST] Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party [official website] called on the government [press release] Monday to organize a program that would allow ordinary citzens the chance to contribute to the Khmer Rouge [MIPT profile] trial fund. The Cambodian government had already committed to contributing $13 million [UN press release; JURIST
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[JURIST] The president of Australia's Law Council [official website], the official voice of lawyers throughout Australia, criticized wide-ranging anti-terrorism powers granted to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation [government website] in testimony Monday before an Australian parliamentary committee. The ASIO has the power to detain individuals for up to a week
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[JURIST] US Air Force Gen. Richard Myers [profile], Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that the two or three reported incidents of deliberate Koran abuse were not likely to result in "court-martial activity." Five incidents of Koran abuse [JURIST report], not all of which were deliberate, were
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[JURIST] The International Criminal Court [official website] announced [press release] Monday the opening of its investigation into reports of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan after the UN Security Council referred the Darfur situation [JURIST report] to it earlier thus year and UN investigators passed along a list
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[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that foreign cruise ships in US waters and ports are subject to federal civil rights law, overturning a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision [PDF]. The ruling extends the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 to cover foreign vessels. Read the Court's opinion
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[JURIST] In a 6-3 decision the US Supreme Court [official website] ruled Monday in Gonzales v. Raich that Congress has the power to criminalize the growth and use of marijuana for personal medical reasons with a doctor's recommendation. The case was an appeal by the Bush administration from a Ninth
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[JURIST] An official with the parliamentary committee overseeing the drafting of Iraq's permanent constitution [JURIST report] said Sunday that up to 35 Sunni Arabs will be listed by their leaders as willing to help draft the new constitution. The 55-member committee, which itself includes only 2 Sunnis is hoping, with
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[JURIST] The New York Times reported Monday that the first court case brought against Saddam Hussein in late summer 2005 [JURIST report] before the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) [official website] will relate to the 1982 killings of close to 160 men [IST press release] from the mostly Shiite village of
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[JURIST] Downing Street confirmed Monday that the UK was postponing indefinitely a referendum on the troubled EU constitution after the charter's rejection by both France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report]. The vote had been expected for spring 2006. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website]
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[JURIST] Texas Governor Rick Perry [official website] signed a bill Sunday [press release] requiring parental consent to abortions for girls under the age of 18 and tighter restrictions on abortions for women who are more than 26 weeks pregnant. Before a crowd of 1,000 supporters in a high school gym
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